Custodian management system

ABSTRACT

Embodiments of the invention relate to systems, methods, and computer program products for the management of custodians within an electronic discovery system. Embodiments of the invention herein disclosed provide for methods of creating, maintaining, and utilizing a unified custodian directory for the purposes of carrying out electronic discovery within an enterprise environment. By employing a unified custodian directory to manage custodians apart from the electronic discovery cases to which they relate, the custodian management system of the present invention promotes efficiencies in the field of electronic discovery.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a Divisional application of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 12/730,848 filed on Mar. 24, 2010, the disclosure of which ishereby incorporated by reference herein for all purposes.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY UNDER 35 U.S.C. § 119

The present Application for Patent claims priority to ProvisionalApplication No. 61/164,276 entitled “Electronic Discovery System” filedMar. 27, 2009, and assigned to the assignee hereof and hereby expresslyincorporated by reference herein.

FIELD

In general, embodiments of the invention relate to methods, systems andcomputer program products for the management of custodians within anelectronic discovery system.

BACKGROUND

Electronic discovery, commonly referred to as e-discovery, refers to anyprocess in which electronic data is sought, located, secured andsearched with the intent of using it as evidence in a legal proceeding,an audit, a securities investigation, a forensics investigation or thelike. E-discovery can be carried out offline on a particular computer orit can be accomplished in a network environment.

The nature of digital data makes it extremely well-suited forinvestigation. In particular, digital data can be electronicallysearched with ease, while paper documents must be scrutinized manually.Furthermore, it is difficult or impossible to completely destroy digitaldata, particularly if the data is stored in a network environment. Thisis because the data appears on multiple hard drives, and because digitalfiles, even if deleted, generally can be undeleted. In fact, the onlyreliable means of destroying digital data is to physically destroy anyand all hard drives where it is stored.

In the process of electronic discovery, data of all types can serve asevidence. This can include text, image, calendar event data, databases,spreadsheets, audio files, multimedia files, web sites and computerprograms. Electronic mail (i.e., e-mail) can be an especially valuablesource of evidence in civil or criminal litigation, because people areoften less careful in these exchanges than in hard copy correspondencesuch as written memos or postal letters.

E-discovery is an evolving field that goes far beyond mere technology.It gives rise to multiple issues, many of which have yet to be resolved.For example, identifying data required to satisfy a given discoveryrequest, locating the appropriate set of data that has been identified,and retrieving the data once it has been identified and located all poseproblems in and of themselves. This is especially evident if the datathat is being identified, located and retrieved comes from an evolvingor disparate enterprise, such as a corporation that has experiencedmergers, acquisitions, downsizing and the like. Mergers and acquisitionsmean that the technology infrastructure across the enterprise may vary,at least in the interim. However, e-discovery must be able locate andretrieve data from these disparate technology infrastructure in a timelyfashion, sometimes within days of when the merger/acquisition occurs.

In addition to identifying, locating and retrieving digital data, themost critical part of any electronic discovery is the preservation ofdata, which involves maintaining an original source copy and storing itfor preservation purposes or furthering processing. This too becomes adaunting task for the enterprise system that encompasses a myriad ofdifferent technology infrastructures and the like. Therefore, a needexists to improve the identification, location, retrieval andpreservation processes, especially in instances in which the enterprisesystem includes disparate technology infrastructures and the like.

As previously noted, e-discovery, as opposed as conventional discoveryof printed materials, provides for the ability to filter or search thedata so as to reduce the volume of data to only that which is relevantto the request. Such searching is typically accomplished by determininga specific date range for the request, providing key words relevant tothe case and the like. Improvements in the area of searching are greatlyin need to further add efficiency to the overall e-discovery process.

Once data has been retrieved, preserved and, in some instances, searchedthe electronic data may be reviewed by the requesting entity, such as alaw firm, securities commission or the like. While large requests aregenerally suited for online review, the manner in which the data ispresented for review adds efficiency to the review process andultimately drives the cost of the review process. Therefore,improvements in the manner in which data is presented for review arealso desirable as a means of increasing efficiency and reducing costs.

Lastly, once the digital data has been reviewed, data identified asrelevant may need to be produced in a tangible format for furtheranalysis or legal evidentiary purposes. The produced documents must beproperly identified and include necessary redactions and confidentialitymarkings.

Until now, e-discovery management has been conducted on a case-by-casebasis, meaning all tasking and workflow related to the e-discovery isbased at the case level. Such management does not allow for finergranularity in the management of a case or for links to exist betweendifferent cases for the purpose of leveraging the e-discovery related toone case to another new or pre-existing case. Therefore, a need existsto improve the manner in which cases are managed and, in particular, howtasking and workflow are managed depending on case requirements and thelike.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the invention relate to systems, methods, and computerprogram products for the management of custodians and, moreparticularly, creating, maintaining, and utilizing a unified custodiandirectory for the purposes of carrying out electronic discovery withinan enterprise environment. In one embodiment of the invention, a methodfor managing custodians for the purposes of electronic discovery withina network is provided and includes the following steps: (1) maintaininga custodian directory comprising a custodian profile associated with acustodian, wherein the custodian profile comprises information relatingto a storage location in the network associated with the custodian, and(2) accessing the custodian profile to automatically collect data fromthe storage location via the network in response to an electronicdiscovery request identifying the custodian.

According to some embodiments, the custodian directory comprises aplurality of custodian profiles associated with a plurality ofcustodians, respectively. In some embodiments, the custodian directorycomprises at least two tables within the network. In some embodiments,the tables are linked based on an identifier associated with thecustodian. In some embodiments, the tables reside in different locationswithin the network.

In some embodiments, the custodian profile comprises human resourcesdata associated with the custodian. In some embodiments, the custodiandirectory interfaces with a human resources database residing on thenetwork. In some embodiments, the custodian directory comprises a humanresources table residing on the network.

In some embodiments, the information relating to a storage locationcomprises an IP address. According to some embodiments, the electronicdiscovery request does not identify the storage location. In someembodiments, the custodian directory is configured to be updatedcontinuously or periodically. In some embodiments, the custodian profilefurther comprises historical information relating to the custodian. Insome embodiments, the custodian directory is searchable via a userinterface. In some embodiments, the electronic discovery requestidentifying the custodian comprises an input through a user interface ofinformation stored in the custodian profile.

In some embodiments, the method also includes linking the custodianprofile to an electronic discovery case record. In some embodiments, themethod also includes accessing the custodian profile in order to send apreservation notice to the custodian.

According to some embodiments of the present invention, a method formaintaining a custodian directory for use in conducting electronicdiscovery within a network is provided, wherein the method includes thefollowing: (1) identifying a plurality of tables within the networkcomprising information relating to custodians, (2) linking the tablesbased on identifiers associated with the custodians, and (3) creating atleast one custodian profile, wherein the custodian profile is associatedwith a custodian and comprises the information in the tables associatedwith the identifier associated with the custodian.

In some embodiments, the method also includes copying the tables into adatabase. In some embodiments, the custodian profile comprisesinformation relating to storage locations in the network associated withthe custodian. In some embodiments, the tables comprise a humanresources table. In some embodiments, the custodian profile compriseshuman resources data relating to the custodian. In some embodiments, thetables comprise network directory information. In some embodiments, thecustodian profile comprises the information for at least one relatedcustodian.

According to some embodiments, the method also includes: recognizingchanges in the information in the tables over time, and recording thechanges to create a historic record of the information relating tocustodians.

According to some embodiments of the present invention a custodianmanagement system for use in conducting electronic discovery within anetwork is provided, wherein the system includes: a custodian directorycomprising a plurality of custodian profiles relating to custodians, andan electronic discovery management server in communication with thecustodian directory via the network, comprising an input device andconfigured to interface with a plurality of data feeds comprisinginformation relating to the custodians to manage the custodiandirectory.

In some embodiments, the custodian directory comprises a plurality oftables comprising data relating to the custodians. In some embodiments,the tables are linked based on identifiers associated with thecustodians. In some embodiments, the custodian profile of each custodianin the custodian directory comprises the data in the tables associatedwith the identifier of the custodian. In some embodiments, theelectronic discovery management server is configured to, in response toa user entering via the input device information about a custodian,search the custodian directory and return the custodian profiles in thecustodian directory that include that information. In some embodiments,the custodian profiles comprise information relating to storagelocations in the network associated with the custodians.

In some embodiments, the electronic discovery management server isconfigured to initialize tools on a periodic basis to obtain theinformation relating to storage locations. In some embodiments, theelectronic discovery management server is configured to sendpreservation notices to custodians using the email addresses stored inthe custodian directory. In some embodiments, the custodian directoryinterfaces with a human resources database. In some embodiments, thecustodian directory comprises a human resources database. In someembodiments, the electronic discovery management server is configured torecord within the custodian profiles the changes that occur to theinformation in the custodian profiles over time such that the custodianprofiles comprise historic information relating to the custodians.

According to some embodiments of the present invention, a computerprogram product for maintaining a custodian management system in for thepurposes of performing electronic discovery in an enterpriseenvironment, the computer program product comprising a computer readablemedium having computer readable program instructions stored therein isprovided, wherein the computer readable program instructions comprise:first instructions configured for linking multiple tables within thenetwork comprising information relating to custodians based onidentifiers associated with the custodians, and second instructionsconfigured for creating at least one custodian profile, wherein thecustodian profile is associated with a custodian and comprises theinformation in the tables associated with the identifier associated withthe custodian.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Having thus described embodiments of the invention in general terms,reference may now be made to the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 illustrates a network environment in which the processesdescribed herein are implemented, according to one embodiment of theinvention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an electronic discovery manager server, inaccordance with embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a database server, in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a collection server, in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a custodian management system, inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of a method for maintaining a custodiandatabase, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 7 is block diagram illustrating electronic discovery managementstructure, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram of a method for initiating a case or matterincluding creating search terms, creating and sending preservationnotices, sending reminder notices and creating and sending surveys tocustodians, in accordance with embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram of a method for custodian management in anelectronic discovery system, in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIGS. 10 and 11 are flow diagrams of methods for harvesting differentdata types in an electronic discovery system; in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention now may be described more fullyhereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which some,but not all, embodiments of the invention are shown. Indeed, theinvention may be embodied in many different forms and should not beconstrued as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, theseembodiments are provided so that this disclosure may satisfy applicablelegal requirements. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.

As may be appreciated by one of skill in the art, the present inventionmay be embodied as a method, system, computer program product, or acombination of the foregoing. Accordingly, the present invention maytake the form of an entirely software embodiment (including firmware,resident software, micro-code, etc.) or an embodiment combining softwareand hardware aspects that may generally be referred to herein as a“system.” Furthermore, embodiments of the present invention may take theform of a computer program product on a computer-readable medium havingcomputer-usable program code embodied in the medium.

Any suitable computer-readable medium may be utilized. Thecomputer-readable medium may be, for example but not limited to, anelectronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, orsemiconductor system, apparatus, device, or propagation medium. Morespecific examples of the computer readable medium include, but are notlimited to, the following: an electrical connection having one or morewires; a tangible storage medium such as a portable computer diskette, ahard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), anerasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), acompact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), or other optical or magneticstorage device; or transmission media such as those supporting theInternet or an intranet. Note that the computer-readable medium couldeven be paper or another suitable medium upon which the program isprinted, as the program can be electronically captured, via, forinstance, optical scanning of the paper or other medium, then compiled,interpreted, or otherwise processed in a suitable manner, if necessary,and then stored in a computer memory.

Computer program code for carrying out operations of embodiments of thepresent invention may be written in an object oriented, scripted orunscripted programming language such as Java, Perl, Smalltalk, C++, orthe like. However, the computer program code for carrying out operationsof embodiments of the present invention may also be written inconventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C”programming language or similar programming languages.

Embodiments of the present invention are described below with referenceto flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems), and computer program products. It may be understood that eachblock of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and/orcombinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or blockdiagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. Thesecomputer program instructions may be provided to a processor of ageneral purpose computer, special purpose computer, or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such thatthe instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer orother programmable data processing apparatus, create mechanisms forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in acomputer-readable memory that can direct a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readablememory produce an article of manufacture including instruction meanswhich implement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block(s).

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer orother programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series ofoperational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmableapparatus to produce a computer-implemented process such that theinstructions which execute on the computer or other programmableapparatus provide steps for implementing the functions/acts specified inthe flowchart and/or block diagram block(s). Alternatively, computerprogram implemented steps or acts may be combined with operator or humanimplemented steps or acts in order to carry out an embodiment of theinvention.

Embodiments of the present invention provide a unique custodiandirectory and management system that enables an electronic discoverysystem to manage custodians separately from the cases and data to whichthey relate. One of the key aspects of the present invention is that itcauses the processes implemented by and through the electronic discoverysystem to be significantly more efficient and scalable than those of theprior art. The custodian management system of the present invention willbe discussed in detail below with reference made to FIGS. 5 and 6.First, the environment of the custodian management system, i.e. theenterprise electronic discovery system, and the three major elements ofthe organizational structure of the electronic discovery system (cases,custodians, and data) should be explained.

There are countless circumstances that may arise within an enterprise orbusiness that require the collection of electronic data from theemployees and officers of the enterprise or business. Such circumstancesmay arise out of ongoing litigation, investigations, regulatorycompliance issues, etc. Each time electronic data is required or ispotentially required to be collected, the subject matter of the reasonfor the collection is a “matter,” and, eventually, a “case” within theelectronic discovery system of the present invention. Within each case,the electronic data that is required will generally have been created byor associated with a particular employee or officer, i.e. a “custodian.”Each member of the enterprise or business could be a custodian. Finally,the custodian data that is harvested or collected from various storagelocations needs to be available to be readily accessed by those who needit for the case. Thus, there are matters/cases (which will be referredto together as “cases” for convenience), custodians, and data which allneed to be identified, established, and managed within the electronicdiscovery system in order to complete the data collection processes.

Existing electronic discovery systems have generally been structured sothat every process and piece of data relating to a collection is storedand managed according to one governing organizational header, such as aparticular litigation or a particular collection. In other words,individuals identified for collection as well as the data collected fromsuch individuals are assigned to a collection or the particular case,matter, litigation, investigation, etc. for which the collection wasrequired, and all management activities are performed by working throughthe organizational hierarchy of that case. However, the unifiedcustodian directory and management system of the present inventionenables an electronic discovery system to capitalize on the separatestorage of case records, custodian records, and collected data within anelectronic discovery system. This novel innovation, combined withstrategic linkages between the custodian management directory and thosesystems housing case records and collected data, allows management ofthe e-discovery system to be implemented in a unique and extremelyefficient manner that is a significant improvement over existingsystems.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary electronic discovery system 100 in whichembodiments of the custodian management system of the present inventionmay be implemented. In some embodiments, the environment of theelectronic discovery system 100 is the information technology platformof an enterprise, for example a national or multi-national corporation,and includes a multitude of servers, machines, and network storagedevices in communication with one another over a communication network.In particular, an electronic discovery management server 110, at leastone database server 120, a collections server 130, enterprise personalcomputers 140, enterprise file servers 150, including at least onepersonal network storage area and at least one shared network storagearea, enterprise email servers 160, a conversion services server 170, ashort-term staging drive 180, and a long-term network storage network190 are all in communication over a communication network 102. Thecommunication network 102 may be a wide area network, including theInternet, a local area network or intranet, a wireless network, or thelike.

As shown in the block diagram of FIG. 2, the electronic discoverymanagement server 110 provides user interface management for a user viauser interface 118. In some embodiments, the electronic discoverymanagement server 110 is a web server that can be accessed via a webbrowser. In one particular embodiment, the electronic discoverymanagement server 110 is an intranet website server that may be accessedutilizing a web browser on a machine within the enterprise. Through theelectronic discovery management server 110, the user interface 118 maybe presented to a user for the purposes of managing the electronicdiscovery process and all processes described herein that are inherentthereto. For illustrative purposes, it may be assumed herein that theprimary user interacting with the user interface 118 is an employee orcontractor of the company who serves an electronic discovery managementrole, and hereafter is referred to as the “e-discovery manager.” Asdiscussed in greater detail below, the e-discovery manager may utilizethe user interface 118 to manage cases, custodians, collections, andcollected data. It should be appreciated, however, that any individualcould use the user interface 118 to perform the manual functions hereinattributed to the e-discovery manager, and, indeed, that an automatedprocess could perform those functions as well.

Referring again to FIG. 1, the electronic discovery management server110 is in communication with the database server 120 and the collectionsserver 130 via the communication network 102. The database server 120,as shown in the block diagram of FIG. 3, is configured to providedatabase services for the electronic discovery management server 110,including housing the Unified Directory/custodian database 122, whichincludes data relating to individual custodians, the case database 124,which includes data relating to particular cases, and ongoingcollections database 126, which includes data relating to collectionsbeing undertaken by the collections server 130. Each of the foregoingdatabases within the database server 120 is discussed in detail below.It should be understood that multiple database servers could be employedinstead of a single database server, and reference to a single databaseserver is for illustrative and convenience purposes only. For example,the Unified Directory 122 could be stored in one database server, thecase database 124 could be stored in another database server, and theongoing collections data 126 could be stored in yet another databaseserver.

Regardless of the number of database servers employed, it is an objectof embodiments of the electronic discovery system 100 that data relatingto custodians and data relating to cases be stored in the databaseserver 120 independently such that custodians and cases may be managedseparately. While custodian data in the Unified Directory 122 and casedata in the case database 124 may be linked or correlated within thedatabase server 120, by allowing the data to be stored and managedseparately in the database server 120, embodiments of the presentinvention advantageously foster greater efficiency in the managementprocesses of an enterprise electronic discovery environment. Forexample, in an environment where custodians may be assigned to multiplecases, the effort associated with the collection of data from custodiansis greatly reduced because the data relating to the custodian's storagelocations does not need to be generated on a case-by-case basis orreproduced in each case record and because, in some situations, data mayonly be collected once from a particular custodian but used in multiplecases.

When a case is initialized and a custodian is assigned to the case(because the custodian was identified as a subject for electronicdiscovery within that case), the custodian management system of thepresent invention enables information for that custodian such as networkidentifications, human resources information, and other data relating todata storage locations, to be readily and automatically accessed by theelectronic discovery management server 110 and linked to the particularcase record in the case directory 124, rather than manually input by thee-discovery manager into the case. This is accomplished through theelectronic discovery management server 110 interfacing with the UnifiedDirectory 122 in the database server 120. Thus, in the event the samecustodian will be the subject of an electronic discovery request inmultiple cases, and therefore will be assigned to multiple cases, byhaving the data relating to that custodian stored in a separate storagelocation, i.e. the Unified Directory 122, and linked to the multiplecase records in the case directory 124, the e-discovery manager avoidshaving to re-generate and re-enter identical information about the samecustodian into multiple case records.

Furthermore, in addition to allowing for management of custodians apartfrom cases, embodiments of the present invention also provide formanagement of collected data. Referring to FIG. 4, the collectionsserver 130 is configured to operate a number of tools, including thelocal collection tool 132, the file server collection tool 134, and theactive email collection tool 136 in order to collect different types ofdata and store such data such that the data may be managed apart fromcases. In this regard, in certain embodiments, the data collected from aparticular custodian is stored separately from both the custodianinformation and any relevant case information (as discussed below, thecollected data is stored in long-term storage area network 190), but islinked to a custodian, which is in turn linked to one or more cases.This is advantageous because in the event a particular custodian isassigned to multiple cases, data collected from the custodian may beshared with the other case(s) to which the custodian is assigned, whichreduces the likelihood of the inefficiencies associated withover-collection. The foregoing are only two examples of the advantagesbrought about by the unique structure of the present invention; indeed,the separation of cases, custodians and collected data such that theymay be linked together yet managed separately greatly improves theefficiency of countless processes crucial to the operation of anelectronic discovery system within the environment of an enterprise orany environment with multiple custodians and multiple cases.

Thus, the various processes and components of the electronic discoverysystem 100 may be primarily categorized within one of case management,custodian management, or data management, although there are necessarilylinks between the various data stores (case, custodian, collected data)to streamline each process and ensure that each case record is complete.The particular processes and components that may be incorporated intoembodiments of the present invention will now be fully explained withinthe context of the particular unit of work within which they primarilyfall, whether it is custodian management, case management, or datamanagement.

Custodian Management

With regard to custodian management, referring now to FIG. 5, accordingto some embodiments of the present invention, a custodian managementsystem 125 is provided. As shown in FIG. 5, in some embodiments, thecustodian management system 125 comprises the electronic discoverymanagement server 110, the Unified Directory 122 (housed within thedatabase server 120), and the human resources systems 127 andinformation technology systems 129 of the enterprise.

In some embodiments, the Unified Directory/custodian database 122 housesinformation relating to all potential custodians within the enterpriseand the locations where those custodians store data. The informationhoused in the Unified Directory 122 may include for a particularcustodian, for example, the custodian's name, position, human resourcesidentifier (a unique number for each employee of the enterprise),employment location, domain, email addresses, network useridentification, personal computer(s) name, paths of network storagedevices used by the custodian, including shared drives and HomeSpaces,work history, related persons (such as managers, team members orsubordinates), and any other information that may be relevant to thediscovery process, including a historical record of the foregoing. Sincethe human resources identifier (perhaps a social security number) isalways unique for each custodian, in some embodiments, the UnifiedDirectory 122 may be organized around the human resources identifier.According to some embodiments, the Unified Directory 122 is generatedthrough a multi-step process that utilizes multiple tools and methods ofidentifying relevant information relating to custodians and thelocations in which they store data. In some embodiments, the UnifiedDirectory 122 is a dynamic directory that interfaces with various datasources such that custodian data is constantly or periodically fed tothe Unified Directory 122 for storage. In such embodiments, theelectronic discovery management server 110 may be configured to operateand maintain the various data feeds to the Unified Directory 122.

In some embodiments, the Unified Directory 122 is a network of tables ordatabases that are linked together and organized around the custodians'human resources identifier, social security number, or other uniqueidentifier. In such embodiments, the Unified Directory 122 is not asingle database that houses all of the data that relates to thecustodian, but rather a network of linked tables, where each table maycontain certain data relating to the custodian, such as a tablecontaining network identifications and email account information ofcustodians or a table containing particular human resources information.Referring again to FIG. 5, the custodian data tables 123, according tosome embodiments are tables of data regarding the custodians that areobtained from various sources, whether copied from the HR Systems 125 orthe IT systems 129 or generated from tools initiated by the electronicdiscovery management server 110. The electronic discovery managementserver 110 is configured to make the linkages between these separatelystored tables using the custodians' unique identifiers. Separatelystoring the tables and providing linkages advantageously avoids the lossor corruption of data that can result from attempting to merge tables.However, in some instances, certain pre-existing tables originating fromdistinct sources or tables generated from distinct data feeds within theenterprise may be merged if the circumstances indicate that loss of datais unlikely, for example, if the fields of the table match.

Thus, in some embodiments, the electronic discovery management server110 or the database server 120 is configured to interface with a numberof different data sources that contain information relating to thecustodians and generate an integrated directory by linking the tablesresulting from such sources, i.e. the data tables 123, and associatingthe data provided therein with unique custodian identifiers. Eachcustodian's “entry” in the Unified Directory 122 may be generated byaccessing the data in each table within the Unified Directory 122associated with such custodian's unique identifier and compiling thedata to obtain a complete report of all data relating to the custodian.In some embodiments, a primary source of data will be the computerdatabases of the human resources computer systems 125 of the enterprise.The tables and/or data from the tables may be simply copied from thehuman resources databases into the data tables 123 of the UnifiedDirectory 122 and periodically updated, or, in some embodiments, thetables and databases of the human resources systems 125 may instead beaccessed by the electronic discovery management server 110 such that adynamic interface is created and the databases themselves, althoughremaining within the human resources systems 125, are now within thescope of the Unified Directory 122 and considered to be the data tables123. In still other embodiments, the data may be copied from the humanresources systems 125 into the Unified Directory 122 to create datatables 123 as a primary step in creating the Unified Directory 122, andthe electronic discovery management server 110 may establish a dynamicinterface between the Unified Directory 122 and the databases of thehuman resources systems 125 such that when changes are made to thedatabases of the human resources systems 125, such changes areautomatically logged in the Unified Directory 122 as well.

In some embodiments, the electronic discovery management server 110 mayutilize human resources tables and databases originating from the humanresources systems 125 as a primary feed of data that can be linked withother tables containing data about the custodians obtained fromdifferent sources. The human resources databases may be particularlyuseful as they can provide information such as name, social securitynumber, human resources identifier, primary email address, work address,home address, employment status, job title, supervisor information, jobhistory, etc. In sum, the human resources databases (or an analogousdatabase) may provide much of the basic information concerning thecustodians. As for other data sources that may be utilized to form theUnified Directory 122, in some embodiments, the electronic discoverymanagement server 110 may also interface via the network 102 with theinformation technology systems 129 of the enterprise in order to obtaindatabases and directories relating to the custodians' network presenceand usage.

The manner in which the data from the IT systems 129 is integrated intothe Unified Directory 122, may vary in the same way as described abovewith regard to the human resources data. Thus the information technologytables may be copied, accessed, or copied and then updated throughcontinuous or periodic access. All of these functions may be performedby the electronic discovery management server 110. In some embodiments,the electronic discovery management server 110 may reach out to networkdirectories and other databases within the IT systems 129, such asWindows Active Directory, to identify network resources related toparticular custodians, including email accounts and file servers. Thedata from the HR systems 125 and the IT systems 129, whether it ismerely accessed through a dynamic interface by the electronic discoverymanagement server 110 or copied into the Unified Directory 122 by theelectronic discovery management server results in a number of distincttables containing various data associated with the custodians of theenterprise. The tables are linked together and organized around thehuman resources identifier such that each custodian entry is associatedwith one human resources identifier and contains all the data throughoutthe data tables 123 that is associated with that human resourcesidentifier.

Furthermore, in addition to retrieving information in the mannersdescribed above, in some embodiments, information in the UnifiedDirectory 122 is generated through tools initialized and/or deployed bythe electronic discovery management server 110. In particular, in someembodiments, as shown in FIG. 2, a profile scanning tool 112, and amapping tool 114 are provided.

The profile scanning tool 112 may be deployed by the electronicdiscovery management server 110 and is configured to crawl thecommunication network 102, scan each of the enterprise personalcomputers 140, and transmit to the database server 120 identifyinginformation about each computer, such as computer name and IP address,and a list of all profiles, including demographics information, (ornetwork user identification) associated with each computer. According todifferent embodiments, the profile scanning tool 112 may be run on theelectronic discovery management server 110, the collection server 130,or another server in the communication network 102. In some embodiments,the profile scanning tool 112 is further configured to identify andtransmit to the database server 120 the most recent date and time atwhich a particular profile was logged on to the machine. Wheninformation relating to a particular computer is received by thedatabase server 120, the database server 120 uses the profileinformation, which may include several user identifications, to link theparticular computer to the custodians in the Unified Directory 122associated with those user identifications.

According to some embodiments, the data obtained by the profile scanningtool 112 is stored as one or more tables in the data tables 123 of theUnified Directory 122. The electronic discovery management server 110 orthe database server 120 is configured to review the data transmitted bythe profile scanning tool 112, which may comprise computer names, IPaddresses, and network user identifications, and compare the datareceived with the data in the other data tables 123, for example, thetables obtained from the human resources systems 125 and informationtechnology systems 125 in order to identify matches (most likely bymatching the user identification) and make linkages between the tables123, which will cause the addition of the profile scanning data to thecustodian entries. Therefore, by comparing the tables generated by theprofile scanning tool 112 with the other tables of the Unified Directory122, the data obtained by the profile scanning tool, i.e. the computernames and IP addresses associated with particular custodians, may beadded to the custodian entries in the Unified Directory 122. Thecomputer names and IP addresses may be used for future reference incollections.

The database server 120 may also record in each custodian's entry in theUnified Directory 122 the last time the computer was accessed by thecustodian, according to the profile information transmitted by theprofile scanning tool 112. In other embodiments, the list obtained bythe profile scanning tool 112 may be stored separately from the UnifiedDirectory 122 and accessed only when a particular collection is beingundertaken. Thus, the profile scanning tool 112 ultimately generates alist of personal computers used by each custodian, which list may beutilized to populate the custodian entries in the Unified Directory 122,or may be a separate directory to be utilized at the time of collection,or may be stored elsewhere, as long as it is readily accessible to thee-discovery manager when a collection of a custodian's local machine(s)is initialized, as discussed in detail below.

In accordance with some embodiments of the invention, the mapping tool114 is configured to crawl the communication network 102 and examine theenterprise file servers 150 residing on the communication network 102 tolocate and identify the path of any personal network storage area oneach server. As used herein, a personal network storage area is anetwork storage area associated with a single user who reads data fromor writes data to it. Personal network storage areas may be in the formof network storage devices or folders or other resources within anetwork storage device and may be referred to hereafter for claritypurposes as “HomeSpaces.” According to different embodiments, themapping tool 114 may be run on the electronic discovery managementserver 110, the collection server 130, or another server in thecommunication network 102. In some embodiments, the mapping tool 114 isa Windows service that is scheduled to execute through use of WindowsScheduled Task. As the mapping tool 114 crawls the communication network102, it is configured to examine each file server and transmit to thedatabase server 120 the path of any network storage area within theplurality of servers 134 that it positively identifies as a HomeSpace.In some embodiments, the mapping tool 114 is configured to explore theenterprise file servers 150 by obtaining and reviewing the directorieson each server and evaluating the paths of each network storage areatherein, including folders and other storage devices and resources.

With regard to identifying a particular network storage area as aHomeSpace, according to some embodiments, the mapping tool 114 isconfigured to utilize conventional naming techniques for paths in thecommunication network 102 to identify those paths of network storageareas within the enterprise file servers 150 that include an indicator,based on the conventional naming techniques, that the particular storageareas associated with those paths are accessed and used by only oneuser, and are therefore HomeSpaces. In accordance with some embodimentsof the invention, each user of the communication network 102 is assignedto at least one user identification and those user identifications arethe indicators that the mapping tool 114 attempts to locate within pathswhen identifying HomeSpaces. In such embodiments, it is the conventionthat the paths of HomeSpaces on the communication network 102 includethe user's user identification. On the other hand, paths of sharednetwork storage areas do not include user identifications. Therefore,the mapping tool 114 may explore the directories of each server withinthe plurality of servers, evaluate each path in turn, and make adetermination as to whether or not the path includes a useridentification. If it is determined that the path includes thedesignated indicator, for example, a user identification, the mappingtool 114 is configured to positively identify the particular networkstorage area identified by that path as a HomeSpace and transmit to thedatabase server 120 the particular user identification and the path ofthe HomeSpace. When that information is received by the database server120, the database server 120 uses the user identification to link theparticular HomeSpace to the custodian in the Unified Directory 122associated with that user identification.

In some embodiments, the data obtained by the mapping tool 114 is storedas one or more tables in the tables 123 of the Unified Directory 122.The electronic discovery management server 110 or the database server120 is configured to review the data obtained by the mapping tool 114,i.e. the HomeSpace paths associated with particular user identification,and compare such data with the data in the other data tables 123, forexample, the tables obtained from the human resources systems 125 andinformation technology systems 125 in order to identify matches (mostlikely by matching the user identification) and make linkages betweenthe tables 123, which will cause the addition of the profile scanningdata to the custodian entries. Therefore, by comparing the tablesgenerated by the mapping tool 114 with the other tables of the UnifiedDirectory 122, the custodian entries in the Unified Directory 122 willnow include HomeSpace location information. This information may be usedfor future reference in collections, including by being automaticallyaccessed by the electronic discovery management server 110 duringcollection of a particular custodian. In other embodiments, theHomeSpace directory generated by the mapping tool 114 may be storedseparately and only utilized or accessed when a particular collection isundertaken. In yet other embodiments, it could be linked to the UnifiedDirectory 122.

In some embodiments, the mapping tool 114 is also configured torecognize and transmit, and the database server 120 is configured tohouse, an indication of the last time the HomeSpace was accessed by theparticular user, for example, the last time any data was read fromand/or written to the HomeSpace. Additionally, in some embodiments, themapping tool 114 is configured to recognize when multiple paths map tothe same network storage area. The collection server 130 compares pathsfor the same user to determine if duplicative entries exist. Thisadvantageously enables avoidance of multiple collections of the samedata. Thus, the profile scanning tool 112 ultimately generates a list ofHomeSpaces used by each custodian, and this list may be presented to thee-discovery manager when a collection of a custodian's HomeSpaces isinitialized, as discussed in detail below.

In addition to storing a list of personal computers and HomeSpaces usedby a particular custodian, which lists were generated by the profilescanning tool 112 and the mapping tool 114 respectively, in accordancewith some embodiments of the present invention, the database server 120is also configured to store a list of any shared network storage areasused by the custodian. As used herein, a shared network storage area isa network storage area associated with multiple users who read data fromand/or write data to it. Shared network storage areas may also be in theform of network storage devices or folders or other resources withinnetwork storage devices and may be referred to hereafter for claritypurposes as “Shared Drives.” The user interface 118 is configured toreceive a path of a Shared Drive input by the e-discovery manager andstore the path in the Unified Directory 122 in relation to one or morecustodians' human resources identifier(s). More particularly, in someembodiments, once a particular user of the communication network 102 ischosen for the collection process, the e-discovery manager may undertaketo identify the particular shared network resources that that individualis using, and eventually, the paths associated with those shared networkresources. This may be accomplished through conversations with theparticular individual, by utilizing data returned from the localcollection tool 132 executed on collection server 130 (shown in theblock diagram of FIG. 4) deployed to the particular user's machine (asdiscussed in detail below), and/or by utilizing a file browsing tool 116executed on electronic discovery manager server 110 (as shown in FIG.2).

According to some embodiments of the present invention, the filebrowsing tool 116 is configured to be utilized by the e-discoverymanager through the user interface 118. The file browsing tool 116 givesthe e-discovery manager elevated authority within the communicationnetwork 102 to access, in a limited manner, the enterprise file servers150 within the communication network 102. While the file browsing tool116 may not allow access to the actual files stored on certain fileservers, it allows the e-discovery manager to browse through thedirectories of the file servers 150, locate files that have beenaccessed by the custodian, and determine the size of the files. Inaccordance with some embodiments, the e-discovery manager may initiallyhave a general idea of a particular file server within the enterprisefile servers 150 that the custodian has used in the past. For example,the custodian may communicate to the e-discovery manager a particularfolder name and/or drive name on which he/she has stored files.Additionally, in some embodiments, the e-discovery manager may havealready undertaken a local collection process on the custodian'smachine, wherein the local collection tool 132 returned a list of thenetwork resources that the user of that machine has used. In that event,the e-discovery manager may be aware of the particular drive referencedby the user. The e-discovery manager may then employ the file browsingtool 116 to browse out to the particular drive mentioned, scan thefolders for any folder having a name resembling that name given by theuser, identify any particular files created by and/or accessed by theuser, determine the size of such files, and retrieve the path of anyfolder (or Shared Drive) including data belonging to the user. Theretrieved paths of the Shared Drives may then be added, either manuallyor automatically, to the Unified Directory 122 in the database server120.

Thus, by means of the profile scanning tool 112, the mapping tool 114,and the file browsing tool 116, the Unified Directory 122 may obtaindata regarding the personal computers, HomeSpaces, and Shared Drivesassociated with the custodians of the enterprise. In terms oforganization of the Unified Directory 122, the data generated by thevarious tools may be stored in separate tables within the data tables123 of the Unified Directory 122. In particular, inasmuch as the pathsof the Shared Drives may be manually added by the e-discovery manager,there may be a separate table for information input to the UnifiedDirectory through the user interface 118. In some embodiments, theelectronic discovery management server 110 manages the tables 123 andcreates appropriate linkages amongst them, generally based upon matchingthe network user identification in order to trace the useridentification back to the unique human resources identifier. In thismanner, according to some embodiments, the Unified Directory 122 maystore in connection with one custodian (and in particular in relation tothe custodian's human resources identifier) a list of the personalcomputers, HomeSpaces, and Shared Drives associated with that custodian.Each of these locations is a potential source of data stored by thecustodian, and once an investigation or collection of a custodian isinitiated, the location information stored in the Unified Directory 122may be accessed to determine the particular storage locations that needto be addressed during the investigation/collection.

Therefore, according to some embodiments, the location storageinformation for a particular custodian is generated and stored either inthe custodian's entry in the Unified Directory 122 or in anotherlocation where it is linked to the entry or otherwise readily accessiblewhen accessing the custodian entry. Once the custodian is assigned to aparticular case, the information may be automatically accessed throughthe Unified Directory 122 (as the custodian entry in the UnifiedDirectory 122 is linked to the case record 124) and used to initiatecollection of the custodian's files. This is advantageous and extremelyefficient as it allows a completely automated investigation/collectionprocess, rather than relying on the e-discovery manager to manuallyinput the targeted machines and file servers at the time of collection.

It should be noted that the Unified Directory 122 may be regularly orcontinuously updated as new information is gathered using the toolsdescribed herein. More particularly, the electronic discovery managementserver 110 may be configured to automatically retrieve data from thehuman resources databases and Active Directory and any other relevantsources, such as information technology directories or lists, as well asdeploy the profile scanning tool 112 and the mapping tool 114, atregularly scheduled intervals. Alternatively, rather than periodicallyretrieving data from the various data sources such as the humanresources databases, the system 100 may be configured such that thedatabase server 120 is continuously interfacing with the data sourcessuch that the Unified Directory 122 is updated in real-time as the datawithin the data sources change. In either instance, each of the feeds ofinformation into the Unified Directory 122 is regularly updated toensure that the data in the Unified Directory 122 is current.

In some embodiments, the database server 120 is configured such that allhistorical data relating to a custodian is stored in relation to thatcustodian's human resources identifier in the Unified Directory 122.Thus, when the feeds of information into the Unified Directory 122 areupdated, in the event data relating to the custodian has changed, thedatabase server 120 is configured to store in the Unified Directory 122the new data and any relevant metadata, including, for example, the timeand date of the change, as well as maintain a record of the old data sothat it is still a part of the custodian's profile in the UnifiedDirectory 122. For example, in the event the profile scanning tool 114identifies a new personal computer associated with a custodian and oneof the personal computers associated with the custodian previously is nolonger identified, the database server 120 is configured to store in theUnified Directory 122 the information for each computer, as well asindications as to when the new computer was first identified and whenthe old computer was no longer identified. In this way, the custodianprofile within the Unified Database 122 may include a history of thepersonal computers used by the custodian. Such information may berelevant at the time of investigation or collection of the custodian.

One feed of information into the Unified Directory 122 which isparticularly relevant to electronic discovery is employment status.According to some embodiments, when the feed of information from thehuman resources databases to the Unified Directory 122 includes a changeas to employment status of a particular custodian, the electronicdiscovery management server 110 is configured to recognize the changeand possibly perform particular functions in response. Morespecifically, in the event it is recorded in the Unified Directory 122that the employment status of a particular custodian changes from activeto terminated, the electronic discovery management server 110 isconfigured to determine whether the custodian is assigned to any case ormatter, and, if so, to transmit to the designated manager or contact forthe case or matter an electronic communication notifying the manager ofthe terminated status and inquiring as to whether the manager would likethe terminated custodian's data collected. In the event the managerresponds in the affirmative, the electronic discovery management server110 is configured to automatically initiate the various collectionprocesses of the present invention. Therefore, the custodian's data maybe advantageously collected prior to any destruction or unavailabilitythat could be caused by the termination. Alternatively, in otherembodiments, the electronic discovery management server 110 may notcommunicate with the manager and may automatically initiate collectionupon recognizing a change in employment status.

With reference now to FIG. 6, a flow diagram illustrating one embodimentof maintaining the Unified Directory 122 is provided. As represented byBlock 601, data is obtained from the human resources systems 125 of theenterprise and stored in the data tables 123. As discussed previously,there may also be an interface whereby the data is not copied andstored, but rather merely accessed. According to Block 602, data is alsoobtained from the information technology systems 129 of the enterpriseand stored in the data tables 123. Next, as shown in Block 603, thepaths and addresses of potential custodian storage locations transmittedby the profile scanning tool 112 and the mapping tool 114 and/or locatedthrough the use of the file browsing tool 116, are stored in the datatables 123. As shown in Block 604, data stored in the data tables 123may also include information input by the e-discovery manager, forexample, Shared Drive path information. According to Block 605, theelectronic discovery management server 110 searches all of the datatables 123 looking for field matches that indicate that data indifferent tables should be associated with the same custodian, andprovides linkages where such matches are located. Also, as representedby Block 606, the electronic discovery management server 110 willorganize all of the linked data under a custodian identifier with whichthe linked data is associated. The custodian identifier is unique withinthe enterprise and thus this organizational structure generatesindividual and unique custodian profiles that contain all the dataacross the data tables 123 that relates to the respective custodians.

As shown in Block 607, the data tables are updated when the data beingfed to the tables changes. The electronic discovery management server110 maintains an active interface between the data tables 123 and thevarious data sources, i.e. the human resources systems 125, theinformation technology systems 127, and the profile scanning tool 112and mapping tool 114, such that those data sources are periodically orcontinuously feeding data to the data tables. When the data in thosedata feeds changes from what was previously recorded in the data tables123, the data tables 123 are updated. Likewise, and as represented byBlock 608, when such a change occurs, the electronic discoverymanagement server 110 records the change, including the previous data,and metadata regarding the change, such that a historical record of thedata in the data tables is preserved.

Case Management

With regard to case management processes, according to some embodiments,a case may be initialized by the e-discovery manager utilizing the userinterface 118. In this regard, the e-discovery manager may enter intothe user interface 118 certain information about a particular matter orcase, such as a case name and/or number, a short description of thematter/case, a legal identifier, the particular requester (i.e., whoasked for the case to be opened), managers or contacts for the matter(i.e., individuals involved in the substance of the matter rather thanthe process, like the e-discovery manager), custodians, etc. Theelectronic discovery management server 110 is configured to store thisinformation in the case database 124 in the database server 120. Thecase database 124 is configured to house this information such that allinformation relating to a particular matter or case is related withinthe case database 124 and a user can use the user interface 118 to viewa profile of the matter or case including all the information.

Once the matter and/or case has been initialized, the e-discoverymanager may add custodians to the matter or case from whom data may berequired to be collected. In some embodiments, the electronic discoverymanagement server 110 is configured to add numerous custodians to asingle matter or case at one time. In this regard, the e-discoverymanager may use the user interface 118 to enter in identifyinginformation about the custodians. The identifying information for eachcustodian does not have to be of the same type. For example, a name maybe entered for one custodian, an email address for another, a networkuser identification for another, and a human resources identifier foranother. The user interface 118 is configured to receive the identifyinginformation in different input areas depending upon the type ofidentifying information being received. The electronic discoverymanagement server 110 is configured to use the input information tosearch the Unified Directory 122 in the database server 120 to determinewhich custodians are associated with the input information. In the caseof a human resources identifier being entered, only one custodian in theUnified Directory 122 may be a match. On the other hand, in the case ofa name being entered, multiple custodians may be a match.

The electronic discovery management server 110, after searching theUnified Directory 122 with the input identifying information, isconfigured to present through the user interface 118 a list of allcustodians matching the input identifying information. In the event onlyone match was returned for a particular set of input identifyinginformation, the electronic discovery management server 110 isconfigured to automatically select the custodian to be added to the caseor matter. On the other hand, in the event more than one match waslocated for a particular set of input identifying information, then themultiple matches may be presented together to the e-discovery managerthrough the user interface 118 and marked so that the e-discoverymanager must review the multiple custodian profiles associated with thematches to determine the correct custodian that should be added to thecase or matter. In doing so, the e-discovery manager may consider theother information in the profiles, such as corporate title, worklocation, associated custodians, etc. Such information can inform thee-discovery manager as to whether the located custodian is the oneintended. The e-discovery manager may then select the correct custodianfor addition to the case or matter and confirm that all custodiansselected may be added to the case or matter.

According to some embodiments, “adding” a custodian to a case or matterinvolves linking the custodian profile in the Unified Directory 122 tothe case or matter in the case database 124. More specifically, theelectronic discovery management server 110 is configured to, once aparticular custodian is identified to be added to a particular case,enter into the custodian section of the relevant case record within thecase database 124 an identification of the custodian, i.e. thecustodian's name, and a link to the custodian's profile in the UnifiedDirectory. According to other embodiments, the custodian's profileinformation is retrieved and copied into the case record by theelectronic discovery management server 110. In either instance, when acollection for a particular custodian is initiated in a particular caseby the e-discovery manager, the electronic discovery management server110 will automatically access the custodian profile for the custodianand determine the particular data storage locations that apply to thatcustodian. Thus, as will be discussed in detail below, in situations inwhich the custodian has already been added to the case and matter, thee-discovery manager must only select the particular custodian forcollection, and the remaining collection process will be automated,because the Unified Directory 122 already houses all of the relevantinformation to access the custodian's data and the electronic discoverymanagement server 110 is configured to automatically implement thevarious collection tools. This is a highly advantageous improvement overthe systems of the prior art.

According to some embodiments, upon adding custodians to a matter, theelectronic discovery management server 110 is configured to initiate thetransmission of preservation notices and surveys to the custodians. Inthis regard, preservation notices and surveys relevant to the particularcase or matter are stored in or linked to the case profile in the casedatabase 124. Transmission of the preservation notices and surveys tocustodians added to the case may be automated, for example, there may bepreset instructions within the case profile that cause the electronicdiscovery management server 110 to transmit a particular preservationnotice and survey at a particular date or time or upon a particulartriggering event, such as a custodian being added to the case, or thee-discovery manager may manually cause the preservation notices andsurveys to be transmitted. In some embodiments, the electronic discoverymanagement server 110 is configured to transmit the preservation noticesand surveys via a standard email function. The surveys may be tied tothe preservation notices such that they are transmitted to custodianstogether, and one survey may be tied to more than one preservationnotice. When a custodian responds to a survey, the survey response isreceived by the electronic discovery management server 110 and stored inrelation to the relevant custodian in the case profile in the casedatabase 124. Furthermore, the electronic discovery management server110 may be configured to store all or a portion of the data received inthe survey response in the Unified Directory 122 in the custodian'sprofile.

According to some embodiments, each transmission of a preservationnotice and survey to a custodian, and each corresponding response, istracked in the relevant case profile in the case database 124. Theelectronic discovery management server 110 may also be configured totransmit reminder notices if responses to the surveys are not receivedwithin a predefined period of time. The electronic discovery managementserver 110 may also be configured to schedule reminder notices to besent to custodians to periodically refresh the custodians' memory oftheir duty to preserve files/documents pertaining to the matter. In someembodiments, once a preservation notice has been sent to a custodian,the electronic discovery management server 110 may undertake to preventany reimaging or refreshing of the custodian's personal computer(s) bytransmitting an alert of the preservation notice to the enterprise'sinformation technology management group. In addition, the surveyresponses received from custodians serve to inform the collectionprocess. For example, one survey may inquire as to what network storagedevices the custodian uses when storing data. The answer that thecustodian gives to the survey may inform the addition of Shared Drivesto the custodian profile in the Unified Database 122 that may be usedlater in collection.

According to some embodiments of the present invention, the e-discoverymanager may utilize the user interface 118 to add attachments, notes,tasks, and search terms to a case or matter. In some embodiments, thecontacts/managers for a case may also access the case profile in thecase database 124 using a web browser and may add attachments, notes,tasks, and search terms to be stored therein. Thus, the e-discoverymanager may not be the only entity with access to the case and casemanagement tools of the electronic discovery management server 110. Thesubject matter of the attachments, notes and tasks could be anythingrelevant to the case or matter. In some embodiments, the tasks are tasksthat particular custodians must complete and the electronic discoverymanagement server 110 is configured to transmit a notice to thecustodians that that the task needs to be completed, perhaps usingstandard email functions. With regard to attachments, the e-discoverymanager, or the contact/manager of the case, may upload relevant filesto be attached to the case profile.

With regard to the search terms, the e-discovery manager or the casecontacts or managers may add certain terms to the case profile to beapplied when searching the collected data to locate data responsive orrelevant to the underlying issues in the case. Storing the search termswithin the case profile is advantageous as it creates a record of thesearching that is to be undertaken with respect to the data and aids inorganization of the data, as discussed further below.

According to some embodiments of the present invention, when a decisionis made that it is time to collect from certain custodians in a matter,the e-discovery manager may use the user interface 118 to release thecustodians from the matter to the underlying case. This release triggersthe commencement of collection of the custodians' data using the varioustools of the system and the data storage information housed in thecustodians' entries in the Unified Directory 122 and linked to the caserecord 124. Furthermore, as discussed briefly above and in detail below,from release of the custodians (i.e. selection of those custodians inthe matter to be released to the case by the e-discovery manager) tocollection and storage of the collected data, the process may beentirely automated. In some embodiments, the electronic discoverymanagement server 110 is configured to allow all custodians assigned tothe matter to be released to the case at the same time. In addition, ininstances where the e-discovery manager has previously created groups ofcustodians within the case, the electronic discovery management server110 is configured to allow a group of custodians to be released from amatter to a case at the same time.

Data Management

Once a custodian has been identified for collection, whether manually bythe e-discovery manager or by being released from a matter to a case,the electronic discovery system 100 is configured to automaticallycollect the custodian's data using the location information stored inthe Unified Directory 122. Therefore, the electronic discoverymanagement server 110 accesses the custodian profile of the custodian tobe collected in the Unified Directory 122 and determines, from theinformation stored therein, the different locations of data storage forthe particular custodian that must be collected. There are manydifferent locations that the system 100 can address, including personalcomputers, email accounts, and network storage areas, includingHomeSpaces and Shared Drives.

If a custodian profile (for a custodian released for collection)includes at least one personal computer(s) associated with thecustodian, then the electronic discovery management server 110 mayundertake to collect the files on these machines. Therefore, theelectronic discovery management server 110 may retrieve the relevantmachine identifying information, such as domain, name, IP address, etc.,and may initialize deployment of a local collection tool 132 running oncollections server 130 (as shown in FIG. 4).

The local collection tool 132 is configured to be deployed from thecollections server 130 or another server within the network 102 to anyof the enterprise personal computers 140. Therefore, for a particularcustodian, the local collection tool 132 is configured to utilize themachine identifying information supplied by the electronic discoverymanagement server 110 to be deployed to the identified custodiancomputer. According to one embodiment, the local collection tool 132 isconfigured to be automatically installed on the target custodian'spersonal computer. The local collection tool 132 is further configuredto generate a snapshot of the data residing on the local storage of thepersonal computer 140, for example, by using a commercially availabletool such as the Volume Shadow Copy Service, store the snapshot in astorage area on the personal computer, and transmit copies of the filesincluded in the snapshot to the collections server 130. By transmittingthe data from the snapshot of the data stored on the hard drive of thepersonal computer, the local collection tool 132 advantageously allowsthe custodian to continue to use her machine without substantialinterference from the local collection tool 132 and even interact withthe data stored on the hard drive as the snapshot of the data is beingtransmitted to the collections server 130.

In addition to the functions described above, the local collection tool132 may also be configured to transmit to the database server 120 acatalog of the files included in the snapshot to be stored in theongoing collections database. This catalog may be referenced by thecollections server 130 in order to determine whether collection iscomplete and to resume interrupted collections at the point ofinterruption. Additionally, in accordance with some embodiments, thelocal collection tool 132 is configured to compile and transmit to theelectronic discovery management server 110 a list of network resourcesthe user is using, including, for example, network applications and fileservers that the user has used or accessed. This list of resources maybe stored in the database server 120 in the custodian's profile in theUnified Directory 122. With regard to transmission of the filesthemselves, according to one embodiment of the invention, the localcollection tool 132 is configured to compress, hash, and upload thefiles included in the snapshot to the collections server 130.

In some embodiments, the electronic discovery management server 110 mayutilize a computer watching tool 117 to determine when to attempt acollection from a custodian's machine. The computer watching tool 117 isconfigured to monitor the network 102 and determine which of theenterprise personal computers 140 are online. Therefore, in the eventthere is a custodian whose local machine needs to be collected, thecomputer watching tool 117 is configured to determine when that machinejoins the network 102 (i.e., when it appears to the computer watchingtool 117) and inform the electronic discovery management server 110 thatit should initialize the local collection tool 132 immediately.

If a custodian profile (for a custodian released for collection)includes any paths for HomeSpaces or Shared Drives, then the electronicdiscovery management server 110 may undertake to collect the files fromthese file servers by initializing the file server collection tool 134running on collection server 130 (as shown in FIG. 4). The file servercollection tool 134 is configured to access the file server located atthe given path, whether the file server is a HomeSpace or a SharedDrive, copy the data residing on the file server, and compress, hash,and transmit the copied data to the collections server 130. The fileserver collection tool 134 may be programmed with preset instructionsthat allow it to only copy files meeting certain criteria, for example,files that have certain file extensions. Alternatively, the programmedinstructions may prevent the file server collection tool 134 fromcopying files having certain file extensions or other attributes. Eitherof the foregoing is advantageous if the e-discovery manager is notinterested in copying executable files or source code, for example. Insome embodiments, the file server collection tool 134 is also configuredto generate a size estimate of the files residing on the targeted fileserver. In one embodiment, the file server collection tool 134 mayautomatically begin the collection process (copying and transmittingdata) if the size estimate falls below a predetermined threshold. Inaddition, in some embodiments, the file server collection tool 134 isconfigured to determine whether a particular folder that it iscollecting from a file server includes more than a token amount ofnearline files, and, in the event that the folder does include suchnearline files, choose to not collect such files so as to avoidoverloading the server. Therefore, according to different embodiments,the file server collection tool 134 copies all or a portion of the filesresiding on a file server located at the path given in the releasedcustodian's profile and transmits them to the collections server 130.

If a custodian profile (for a custodian released for collection)includes an email address for an email account on the enterprise emailserver 160, then the electronic discovery management server 110 mayundertake to collect the files from the enterprise email server 160 byinitializing the active email collection tool 136 running on collectionsserver 130 (as shown in FIG. 4). In some embodiments, the active emailcollection tool 136 is configured to access the particular MicrosoftExchange server within the enterprise email server 160 on which thecustodian's account resides (which is known based on the informationincluded in the Unified Directory 122), copy all email located there,including emails deleted by the custodian up to a predetermined periodof time prior to the collection, (for example, seven days prior to thecollection) and transmit the copied emails to the collections server130.

Regardless of the storage resource location from which data is beingcollected, or the particular type of data being collected, thecollections server 130 is configured to store the data first (while thecollection is still ongoing) in the short-term staging drive 180 untilthe particular collection is complete, attach a barcode to the set ofdata resulting from the particular collection, and then copy the dataset to the long-term storage area network 190 for permanent storage. Insome embodiments, the barcode is generated at the time the collection isinitiated by the electronic discovery management server 110 and acts asa folder within which all files obtained through the collection processare placed. Thus, the barcode is stored with the collected data in thelong-term storage area network 190 and is used to identify and accessthe data collected data at a later time. The log file of the barcodecould include the time and date of the collection, the name of therequester, the particular file extension types requested, or any otherinformation that would be useful in identifying or referring to thecollection.

In some embodiments, the collections server 130 or another servertransmits the barcode information to the electronic discovery managementserver 110 to be stored in the database server 120, for example, in thecustodian's profile in the Unified Database 122, in relation to thestored information about the particular collection, whether it was alocal collection, an active email collection, a file server collection,etc. In other embodiments, the barcode information, or an actual link tothe barcode in the long-term storage area network 190, is stored withinthe case record 124 and/or the custodian profile in the UnifiedDirectory 122 at the same time that the barcode is generated. In eitherinstance, the barcode can be used for reference by the e-discoverymanager by viewing the case record 124 or the custodian profile, as thecase may be, at a later date to determine what collections have alreadyoccurred in the case or for the particular custodian. This isparticularly advantageous in an enterprise environment or anyenvironment in which multiple cases must be managed and custodians canbe assigned to multiple cases, because it allows the e-discovery managerto readily locate and access data that was collected previously from acustodian, perhaps for a different case, and use the data, either fordiscovery purposes or to inform the collection process.

After the data has been copied to the long-term storage area network190, the collections server 130 compares the hashing of the data inpermanent storage to the original data in the staging drive 180 and, ifthe hashing is identical, purges the data from the staging drive 180.Once the data has entered the long-term storage area network 190, it isnot necessarily ready for review. Indeed, it is likely that the data mayneed to be processed before it is searchable and suitable for review byinvestigators and attorneys. For example, the files may be encrypted inthe form in which they are collected and sent to the long-term storagearea network 190. Therefore, according to some embodiments, the data maybe copied to the conversion services server 170 where a series ofdecryption and standardization functions may be applied to it. After thedata is decrypted and standardized, it is returned to the long-termstorage area network 190 and may remain there to be accessed for reviewpurposes.

With reference now to FIG. 7, a block diagram is provided thatillustrates the electronic discovery management structure of the presentinvention, according to some embodiments. As illustrated in FIG. 7,certain processes described herein may be categorized within one of casemanagement, as represented by Block 200, custodian management, asrepresented by Block 220, or data management, as represented by Block240. As described above, the electronic discovery system 100 is arrangedsuch that cases, custodians and data may be managed independent of oneanother. However, there is still an element of the categorization ofprocesses within the categories that is conceptual, and it should beunderstood that certain processes may be correctly assigned to more thanone category. Therefore, while the architecture of the system 100 allowsseparate management of custodians, cases, and data, certain processes ofthe present invention may affect more than one of the foregoing.

The first process that falls within the case management category iscreation of a matter or case as a framework for litigation supportactivities, as shown in Block 202. As described above, the e-discoverymanager may enter into the user interface 118 certain information abouta particular matter or case, such as a case name and/or number, a shortdescription of the matter/case, a legal identifier, the particularrequester (i.e., who asked for the case to be opened), managers orcontacts for the matter (i.e., individuals involved in the substance ofthe matter rather than the process, like the e-discovery manager) etc.

It is noted that custodian information is stored separately from thecase information allowing for the same custodian in multiple cases. Thisprovides for the electronic discovery system of the present invention tohave scalability, whereby evidence associated with one custodian may beused in multiple cases.

The electronic discovery management server 110 stores this informationin the case database 124 in the database server 120. The case database124 houses this information such that all information relating to aparticular matter or case is related within the case database 124 and auser, such as a manager or contact, can use the user interface 118 toview and edit a profile of the matter or case.

The next process within case management is the creation of preservationnotices and surveys specific to the matter, as shown in Block 204. Inthis regard, the e-discovery manager may, through the user interface118, either generate a new preservation notices or surveys relevant tothe particular case or matter to be stored in the case profile in thecase database 124 or, alternatively, link a preservation notice orsurvey already stored in the database server 120 to the case profile ofthe specific case or matter at issue. Also within case management is thecreation of search terms pertinent to the case, as represented by Block206. As described above, the e-discovery manager or a contact or managerfor the case may use the user interface 118 to input individual searchterms or search term sets to be applied to the data harvested in thecase. In some embodiments, the search terms may be limited to be usedwith particular custodians and/or with particular harvested data types.The search terms will be saved in the case database 124 so that they maybe readily applied to harvested data and used in connection with storingthe resulting responsive data.

The processes of entering relevant attachments, notes and updates to aparticular case or matter also falls within the case managementcategory, as demonstrated by Blocks 208 and 210. The e-discovery manageror a case contact or manager may use the user interface 118 to uploaddocuments and enter notes and other relevant data, including updates andreminders, to be stored in the case profile of the case in the casedatabase 124. Once these attachments, notes and updates are added, theymay be referenced whenever a user views the case profile through theuser interface 118. The cost estimation modules of the present inventionare also processes that are categorized as case management processes, asshown in Block 212. In this regard, the electronic discovery managementserver 110 utilizes a cost estimation tool to determine the cost ofharvesting and reviewing data, based on a number of factors including,for example, number of custodians, amount of harvested data, data types,etc. Finally, case management also includes a number of tasking andworkflow processes that are represented by block 214.

Moving now to custodian management, certain processes falling within thecategory of custodian management are shown in Block 220. While theprocesses involving generation of the Unified Directory 122 certainlycould be categorized as custodian management, the processes shown inFIG. 7 include those processes involving management of custodians withinthe scope of a case or matter. In that regard, the first process ofcustodian management included in FIG. 7 is the addition of custodians toa case or matter, as shown in Block 222. As described above, thee-discovery manager may use the user interface 118 to link a custodian'sprofile from the Unified Directory 122 to the particular case profile inthe case database 124. Thus, the custodian profile and case profile arecorrelated. The next processes within custodian management is thetransmission of preservation notices and surveys to custodians, as shownin Block 224, and the presentation of the surveys to custodians, asshown in Block 226. The electronic discovery management server 110 usesthe contact information in the custodian's profile in the UnifiedDirectory 122 to transmit the preservation notice(s) and survey(s)stored in the case profile to the custodian. In some embodiments, astandard email function is used, so that the only information neededfrom the Unified Directory 122 is the custodian's email address. Whenthe custodian checks her email, the survey will appear as a messagetherein, and when she opens that message, the survey will be presentedto her. The survey may be configured such that when she fills it out,the survey is automatically transmitted back to the database server 120for storage in the case profile and the custodian's profile.

Also falling within custodian management is the process of releasingcustodians from a matter to a case, as shown in Block 228. Thee-discovery manager uses the user interface 118 to mark the custodian'sprofile so that the custodian is now activated for collection of data.This may occur within the case database 124 since the custodian'sprofile is linked thereto. Once the custodian is released/marked, theelectronic discovery management server 110 may access the custodian'sprofile and initialize collection based on the various data storagelocations identified in the profile. Therefore, as represented by Block230, the electronic discovery management server 110 may automaticallydetermine the data types and locations of data to be harvested byaccessing the custodian's profile in the Unified Directory 122.Alternatively, the e-discovery manager may manually make the samedetermination by accessing and viewing the custodian's profile. Finally,as with case management, custodian management also includes a number oftasking and workflow processes that are represented by Block 232.

The last category is data management, represented by Block 240. Onemajor set of processes within data management are the processes relatingto the harvesting of data, as shown in Block 242. These processesinclude the collection of data from all the different storage areas of aparticular custodian, including the custodian's local storage on herpersonal computer(s), the custodian's network storage areas, thecustodian's email, and any other areas, as are described herein. All ofthe data in the various storage areas is copied and transmitted to thecollections server 130, as described in detail for each particularcollection tool or process. Upon reaching the collections server 130,data resulting from a particular collection is temporarily stored in theshort-term staging drive 180 until the collection is complete, at whichpoint it is stored in the long-term storage area network 190 inassociation with a specific identifying barcode. The foregoing processis represented by Block 244. The data may require decryption orstandardization functions to be applied to it in order for it to besearchable and/or otherwise usable, so the next process that fallswithin data management is the copying of the data to the conversionservices server 170 for analysis and conversion as necessary, as shownin Block 246. Once the data is converted, it is returned to thelong-term storage area network 190 to be used in review.

Also falling within data management is the association of particulardata sets with particular sets of search terms stored in the caseprofile of the case database 124. In this regard, certain search termsstored in the case profile are stored with the intention of beingapplied to certain types of data and/or certain custodian's data.Alternatively, certain search terms may be applied to all data collectedfor a specific case. In either instance, the electronic discoverymanagement server 110 accesses the case profile, determines the searchterms to be applied, and associates the search terms with the barcode ofthe appropriate data sets in long-term storage. Thus, the search termswill be applied to that data and the results will be generated andpresented to reviewers for analysis. Finally, as with the othermanagement categories, data management also includes a number of taskingand workflow processes that are represented by Block 250.

With reference to FIG. 8, an exemplary process for managing a case isprovided, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. Asrepresented by Block 302, a case or matter is created by the e-discoverymanager and stored in the case database 124. Next, custodians are addedto the case, as shown in Block 304, by linking the custodian profiles ofthe Unified Directory 122 to the case profile. Next, as represented byBlock 306, the e-discovery manager and/or the case contact or manageradds search terms to be applied to data harvested for the case,including instructions as to applying the search terms to particulardata types or custodians. Block 310 represents the determination thatmust be made as to whether there is a matter or just a case. If there isno matter because preservation notices are not required, for example,for an audit, then the process will move straight to the initializationof data collection. On the other hand, if there is matter, rather thanjust a case, then the creation of preservation notices is required, asshown in Block 312.

The preservation notice, as shown in Block 314 is transmitted to thecustodians added to the matter, perhaps using email. As shown in Block316, a reminder notice module may be employed. As shown in Block 318,the reminder notice module transmits periodic reminder notices tocustodians. The notices may be sent over email and may remind custodiansabout the preservation notice and/or remind custodians to fill outsurveys. With regard to surveys, in the event a survey is required ordesired, according to Block 320, a survey is created. The survey may besaved in the case profile in the case database 124. As shown in Block322, it is possible to enable the survey to be attached to andtransmitted with the preservation notices.

Next, as shown in Block 324, the e-discovery manager may releasecustodians from the matter to the case, which initialized collection ofthe custodian's data. As shown in Block 326, the e-discovery manager orthe electronic discovery management server 122 accesses the custodianprofile, determines the data types and location to be collected, andinitializes the applicable collection tools to go collect the data. Oncethe data has been collected and a unique barcode has been assigned toeach dataset based on the particular custodian and storage location fromwhich it originated, as shown in Block 328, the search terms previouslystored in the case profile may be assigned to the dataset based on theinput instructions regarding the search terms. These search terms may beapplied to the dataset and the results saved to be presented toreviewers for analysis.

With reference to FIG. 9, an exemplary process for managing a custodianis provided, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.First, as represented by Block 402, a custodian is added to a matter orcase. In this regard, the custodian's profile in the Unified Directory122 is linked to the relevant case or matter profile. In order to locatethe custodian's profile, a custodian search module may be employed, asshown in Block 404. Therefore, the e-discovery manager may enter anyidentifying information about the custodian, whether it is thecustodian's name, network user identification, email address, etc. Thecustodian search module will take the input information and search theUnified Directory 122 for a match. If more than one match is obtained,the user interface 118 will present all matches and allow thee-discovery manager to browse the associated profiles to determine theintended custodian. In this way, the correct custodian is identified andthe profile of that custodian is linked to the appropriate case ormatter.

As represented by Block 406, the electronic discovery management server110 may determine whether the particular custodian added is a member ofthe enterprise “do-not-call list.” In this regard, there may be anindication in the custodian's profile in the Unified Directory 122 thatthe particular custodian should not be contacted regarding collections,and an alternative contact should be used, such as an administrativeassistant of the custodian. Alternatively, there may be a separatedo-not-call list stored in the database server 120 that must be accessedand searched to determine whether or not the custodian appears on thatlist. In either instance, a determination is made as to whether or notthe custodian should be directly contacted, and in the event thecustodian should not be directly contacted, the contact information forthe custodian's assistant (or other stand-in) should be obtained. Thisinformation will be used later for transmitting preservation notices andsurveys.

Next, in accordance with Block 408, a determination is made by theelectronic discovery management server 110 as to whether the custodianhas been added to a matter or a case. If it is a case, then thecustodian is verified, as shown in Block 424, supplemental data may beadded to the custodian profile in the Unified Directory 122 as required,as shown in Block 426, and then the various collection tools areinitialized by the electronic discovery management server 110 forcollection of the custodian's data, as shown in Block 428. On the otherhand, if it is a matter, then preservation notices are required.Therefore, as shown in Block 410, a preservation notice is sent viaemail to the custodian or custodian stand-in. As shown in Block 412, thecustodian may then be inactivated from the case because, for somereason, data does not need to be collected from the custodian. In thefuture, when it comes time to collect from the custodian, the custodianwill be reactivated, as shown in Block 422.

After a preservation notice is sent, a determination is made by theelectronic discovery management server 110 as to whether a survey isrequired, as shown in Block 414. It should be noted that in alternateembodiments the decision on whether to send a survey may be made priorto sending the preservation notice. In such alternate embodiments, ifthe survey is required, it may become a component of the preservationnotice and, thus, accessed simultaneously by the custodian. If a surveyis required, it is transmitted in conjunction with a preservationnotice, and the answers are collected by the electronic discoverymanagement server 110 and stored in the database server 120, as shown inBlock 416. Reminder notices for the preservation notices and surveys mayalso be transmitted to the custodian, as shown in Block 420. Next, onceit is time to collect data, the custodian is released from the matter tothe case, as shown in Block 418, and the various collection tools areinitialized by the electronic discovery management server 110 forcollection of the custodian's data, as shown in Block 428. In thisprocess, the custodian's profile in the Unified Directory 122 isaccessed in order to determine the various locations where the custodianmay have stored data. Finally, as shown in Block 430, the custodian'sdata is collected.

Referring to FIGS. 10 and 11, flow diagrams are presented of a method500 for harvest data from various data sources, in accordance withembodiments of the present invention. At Event 502, the collection ofdata ensues and, at Event 504, the type of data is identified. DataBlock 506 signifies active email that is collected from an exchangesystem or the like. At Event 508 the automated active email collectiontool is implemented to collect email from identified email address. Aspreviously noted, and in accordance with present embodiments of theinvention, if a custodian profile (for a custodian released forcollection) includes an email address for an email account on theenterprise email server (160), then the electronic discovery managementserver (110) may undertake to collect the files from the enterpriseemail server (160) by initializing the active email collection tool(136) running on collections server (130). In some embodiments, theactive email collection tool (136) is configured to access theparticular Microsoft Exchange server within the enterprise email server160 on which the custodian's account resides (which is known based onthe information included in the Unified Directory 122), copy all emaillocated there, including emails deleted up to a designated prior period,for example, seven days prior to the collection, and transmit the copiedemails to the collections server (130). The email collection tool isalso capable of implementing bulk requests and for collecting email on ascheduled basis, such as daily. The email collection tool isadditionally capable of being implementing enterprise wide and requiresno server identifiers or the like to collect the active email. In thisregard, the email collection tool (136) serves to reduce security risk.

At Event 510, a barcoding tool is implemented at a staging location,such as short-term staging drive (180) to attach a barcode to the set ofemail resulting from the particular collection. The barcoded data isthen copied and communicated to the long-term storage area network (190)for permanent storage. Furthermore, the collections server (130)transmits the barcode information to the electronic discovery managementserver (110) to be stored in the database server (120), for example, inthe custodian's profile in the Unified Database (122), in relation tothe stored information about the particular collection. Therefore, thebarcode can be used for reference at a later date to determine theorigin of the data. After the data has been copied to the long-termstorage area network (190), the collections server (130) compares thehashing of the data in permanent storage to the original data in thestaging drive (180) and, if the hashing is identical, purges the datafrom the staging drive (180). As such, barcoding is performed withoutthe need to execute the barcoding tool on an exchange server and, assuch no human intervention is needed in the barcode process. Inaccordance with embodiments of the present invention, one barcode may beassigned per custodian, per data type and per event (i.e., case, matter,etc.)

At Event 512, the collected email data may be associated with a specificsearch term set or sets. When the search terms are applied, a listing ofthe files and documents including those terms (the “search term hitlist”) are presented to the reviewer and also stored in the databaseserver (120). The reviewer may provide an indication of this to theelectronic discovery management server 110, which may then make adetermination that other documents within the search term hit list aremore likely to be responsive.

At Event 514, the collected and barcoded active email data is copied toa processing drive for subsequent analysis. It should be noted that thenature of email data obviates the need to perform conversion and/ordecryption on the data set. At Event 516, the active email data set isloaded into the analysis tool and, at Event 518, the data set isexported to the requestor/reviewer for analysis.

Data Block 520 signifies other non-exchange server based email, such asemail accessed through a client-server, collaborative application, suchas Lotus Notes® or the like. At Event 522, NSF files or any other filetypes associated with non-exchange server based email is manuallyharvested from an enterprise-grade email server having collaborativecapabilities, such as a Lotus Domino server or the like.

At Event 522, a barcoding tool is implemented at a staging location,such as short-term staging drive (180) to attach a barcode to the set ofnon-exchange server email resulting from the particular collection. Thebarcoded data is then copied and communicated to the long-term storagearea network (190) for permanent storage. Furthermore, the collectionsserver (130) transmits the barcode information to the electronicdiscovery management server (110) to be stored in the database server(120), for example, in the custodian's profile in the Unified Database(122), in relation to the stored information about the particularcollection. Therefore, the barcode can be used for reference at a laterdate to determine the origin of the data. After the data has been copiedto the long-term storage area network (190), the collections server(130) compares the hashing of the data in permanent storage to theoriginal data in the staging drive (180) and, if the hashing isidentical, purges the data from the staging drive (180).

At Event 526, the collected non-exchange server email data may beassociated with a specific search term set or sets. When the searchterms are applied, a listing of the files and documents including thoseterms (the “search term hit list”) are presented to the reviewer andalso stored in the database server (120). The reviewer may provide anindication of this to the electronic discovery management server 110,which may then make a determination that other documents within thesearch term hit list are more likely to be responsive.

At Event 528, the NSF files or any other file types associated withnon-exchange server based email that may be encrypted is decrypted usinga decryption tool, in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention. The encryption of NSF files occurs at the user level and,therefore only the user has the password necessary for decryption. Thedecryption tool allows for decryption of the NSF file-type data withoutthe knowledge of the user/encrypter. The decryption tool finds ID filesthat exist anywhere in the enterprise system, creates a database of theID files, associates the database with the user/encrypter andsubsequently decrypts the data.

At Event 530, the non-exchange server email data set is loaded into theanalysis tool and, at Event 532, the data set is exported to therequestor/reviewer for analysis.

Data Block 534 signifies journaled data, such as electronic commercedata stored on a repository for the purpose of regulation, compliance toregulating bodies, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)or the like. At Event 536, criteria is extracted from input system andmanually entered in a designated third party system for data retrieval.

At Event 538, the barcoding tool is implemented at a staging location,such as short-term staging drive (180) to attach a barcode to the set ofjournaled data resulting from the particular collection. The barcodeddata is then copied and communicated to the long-term storage areanetwork (190) for permanent storage. At Event 540, the collected andbarcoded journaled data may be associated with a specific search termset or sets.

At Event 542 source-to-processing is implemented to insure that anyloose files are properly formatted in a standardized format. In thisregard, according to one embodiment of the invention, loose files areexamined for relevancy and, if relevant, stored in a proper data format,such as a PST file or the like. The metadata associated with thenon-standardized files is retained and remains with the reformatted datafiles. Source to processing file conversions may be required on EMLformatted files, MSG formatted files and the like.

At Event 544, the journaled data set is loaded into the analysis tooland, at Event 546, the journaled data set is exported to therequestor/reviewer for analysis.

Referring to FIG. 11, data block 548 signifies data from a localPersonal Computer (PC), such as enterprise PC (140). At Event 550, thelocal collection tool (132) is implemented to collect data fromdesignated PCs by taking a “snapshot” of the device's hard drive.According to one embodiment of the invention, the local collection toolmay be autodeployed thus, obviating the need for any manual entry by thee-discovery manager or the like. In other embodiments of the invention,the local collection tool (132) may be employed to collect data fromnetwork storage.

At Event 552, the barcoding tool is implemented at a staging location,such as short-term staging drive (180) to attach a barcode to the set oflocal PC data resulting from the particular collection. The barcodeddata is then copied and communicated to the long-term storage areanetwork (190) for permanent storage. At Event 554, the collected andbarcoded local PC data may be associated with a specific search term setor sets.

At Event 556 source-to-processing is implemented to insure that anyloose files are properly formatted in a standardized format. In thisregard, according to one embodiment of the invention, loose files areexamined for relevancy and, if relevant, stored in a proper data format,such as a PST file or the like. The metadata associated with thenon-standardized files is retained and remains with the reformatted datafiles. Source to processing file conversions may be required on EMLformatted files, MSG formatted files, IPD formatted files and the like.

At Event 558, the local PC files that may be encrypted are decryptedusing a decryption tool, in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention. The decryption tool allows for decryption of the PC filesdata without the knowledge of the user/encrypter. The decryption toolfinds ID files that exist anywhere in the enterprise system, creates adatabase of the ID files, associates the database with theuser/encrypter and subsequently decrypts the data.

At Event 560, the local PC data set is loaded into the analysis tooland, at Event 562, the local PC data set is exported to therequestor/reviewer for analysis.

Data block 564 signifies data from network storage, such as a shareddrive or HomeSpace. At Event 566, the file server collection tool (134)is implemented to automatically collect data from shared drives and/orHomeSpace. According to one embodiment of the invention, the file servercollection tool (134) may be autodeployed thus, obviating the need forany manual entry by the e-discovery manager or the like.

At Event 568, the barcoding tool is implemented at a staging location,such as short-term staging drive (180) to attach a barcode to the set ofnetwork storage data resulting from the particular collection. Thebarcoded data is then copied and communicated to the long-term storagearea network (190) for permanent storage. At Event 570, the collectedand barcoded network storage data may be associated with a specificsearch term set or sets.

At Event 572 source-to-processing is implemented to insure that anyloose files are properly formatted in a standardized format. In thisregard, according to one embodiment of the invention, loose files areexamined for relevancy and, if relevant, stored in a proper data format,such as a PST file or the like. The metadata associated with thenon-standardized files is retained and remains with the reformatted datafiles. Source to processing file conversions may be required on EMLformatted files, MSG formatted files, IPD formatted files and the like.

At Event 574, the network storage files that may be encrypted aredecrypted using a decryption tool, in accordance with embodiments of thepresent invention. The decryption tool allows for decryption of thenetwork storage data without the knowledge of the user/encrypter. Thedecryption tool finds ID files that exist anywhere in the enterprisesystem, creates a database of the ID files, associates the database withthe user/encrypter and subsequently decrypts the data.

At Event 576, the network storage data set is loaded into the analysistool and, at Event 578, the network storage data set is exported to therequestor/reviewer for analysis.

Data block 580 signifies electronic data for forensics. At Event 582, aforensic collector tool, such as EnCase® may be executed on the devicesof interest to collect data. According to one embodiment of theinvention, the forensic collector tool may be automatically deployed onthe device of interest without the knowledge of the device user. Inaccordance with another embodiment of the invention, a computer watchertool may be implemented (not shown in FIG. 11) that watches the networkto determine the addition or subtraction of computers to the networkbased on ID's/IP addresses returned from the network.

At Event 584, the barcoding tool is implemented at a staging location,such as short-term staging drive (180) to attach a barcode to the set offorensic data resulting from the particular collection. The barcodeddata is then copied and communicated to the long-term storage areanetwork (190) for permanent storage. At Event 586, the collected andbarcoded forensic data may be associated with a specific search term setor sets.

At Event 588 source-to-processing is implemented to insure that anyloose files are properly formatted in a standardized format. In thisregard, according to one embodiment of the invention, loose files areexamined for relevancy and, if relevant, stored in a proper data format,such as a PST file or the like. The metadata associated with thenon-standardized files is retained and remains with the reformatted datafiles. Source to processing may be required on EML formatted files, MSGformatted files, IPD formatted files and the like.

At Event 590, the forensic files that may be encrypted are decryptedusing a decryption tool, in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention. The decryption tool allows for decryption of the networkstorage data without the knowledge of the user/encrypter. The decryptiontool finds ID files that exist anywhere in the enterprise system,creates a database of the ID files, associates the database with theuser/encrypter and subsequently decrypts the data.

At Event 592, the forensic data set is loaded into the analysis tooland, at Event 594, the network storage data set is exported to therequestor/reviewer for analysis.

Data block 596 signifies collaborative data, such as data residing atdiscovery sites, for example LiveLink® or the like. At Event 598, adiscovery site collector tool, such as a LiveLink® collector tool may beexecuted on the devices of interest to collect data. According to oneembodiment of the invention, the discovery site collector preserves atleast a portion of the discovery site database in the e-discoverydatabase, including all files and all revisions of the files. In thisregard, the discovery site collector tool queries against the databaseto define what files need to be retrieved, then copies those files basedon the result of the query. Metadata pertaining to the files is retainedin the case management system tables. In accordance with anotherembodiment of the invention, the discovery site collector tool collectsthe documents and the related metadata and uses the metadata toautomatically rename the files.

At Event 600, the barcoding tool is implemented at a staging location,such as short-term staging drive (180) to attach a barcode to the set ofdiscovery site data resulting from the particular collection. Thebarcoded data is then copied and communicated to the long-term storagearea network (190) for permanent storage. At Event 602, the collectedand barcoded discovery site data may be associated with a specificsearch term set or sets.

At Event 604 source-to-processing is implemented to insure that anyloose files are properly formatted in a standardized format. In thisregard, according to one embodiment of the invention, loose files areexamined for relevancy and, if relevant, stored in a proper data format,such as a PST file or the like. The metadata associated with thenon-standardized files is retained and remains with the reformatted datafiles. Source to processing may be required on EML formatted files, MSGformatted files, IPD formatted files and the like.

At Event 606, the discovery site data set is loaded into the analysistool and, at Event 608, the discovery site data set is exported to therequestor/reviewer for analysis.

Thus, present embodiments herein disclosed provide for improvements inelectronic discovery. Embodiments herein disclosed provide for anenterprise wide e-discovery system that provides for data to beidentified, located, retrieved, preserved, searched, reviewed andproduced in an efficient and cost-effective manner across the entireenterprise system. In addition, by structuring management of e-discoverybased on case/matter, custodian and data and providing for linkagebetween the same, further efficiencies are realized in terms ofidentifying, locating and retrieving data and leveraging results ofprevious e-discoveries with current requests.

While certain exemplary embodiments have been described and shown in theaccompanying drawings, it is to be understood that such embodiments aremerely illustrative of and not restrictive on the broad invention, andthat this invention not be limited to the specific constructions andarrangements shown and described, since various other changes,combinations, omissions, modifications and substitutions, in addition tothose set forth in the above paragraphs, are possible.

Those skilled in the art may appreciate that various adaptations andmodifications of the just described embodiments can be configuredwithout departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. Therefore,it is to be understood that, within the scope of the appended claims,the invention may be practiced other than as specifically describedherein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A custodian management system for use inconducting electronic discovery within a network comprising: one or morestorage devices comprising a memory and at least one processor incommunication with the memory, wherein the memory is configured to storea dynamic custodian directory comprising a plurality of custodianprofiles relating to custodians, wherein the plurality of custodianprofiles include at least name, employment position, human resourcesidentifier, and computer network storage locations associated with acorresponding custodian, wherein the plurality of custodian profilesfurther include one or more tables and databases that are linked basedon the human resources identifier associated with the correspondingcustodian; and an electronic discovery management server incommunication with the one or more storage devices via the network,comprising a memory and at least one processor in communication with thememory, wherein the electronic discovery management server comprises atleast a profile scanning tool, a mapping tool, and a file browsing toolstored in the memory, wherein the at least one processor is configuredto execute a computer-readable program code to: deploy the profilescanning tool, wherein the profile scanning tool is configured to (1)crawl the network and scan personal computing devices, (2) retrieve atleast a computer name and IP address associated with each of thepersonal computing devices, and (3) retrieve a list of computer userprofiles accessing each of the personal computing devices, wherein thelist of computer user profiles comprises first user identification;deploy the mapping tool, wherein the mapping tool is configured to (1)crawl the network and examine file servers, and (2)retrieve from thefile servers, paths to personal storage areas in the network, whereinthe paths include a second user identification; access the file servers,via the file browsing tool, to locate files, retrieve size of the filesaccessed by each of the custodians and retrieve a third useridentification associated with each of the files; generate the dynamiccustodian directory comprising the plurality of custodian profiles,wherein generating each custodian profile includes automatically: (1)linking custodian-specific portions of the tables and databases to thecustodian profile based on the human resources identifier associatedwith a custodian, (2) matching one or more paths to the custodianassociated with the custodian profile based on the second useridentification included in included in a path associated with thecustodian, (3) matching one or more of the personal computing devices tothe custodian associated with the custodian profile based on the firstuser identification, (4) matching one or more of the files to thecustodian associated with the custodian profile based on the third useridentification, and (5) storing in the linked tables and linkeddatabases associated with the custodian profile the matched one or morepaths to the personal storage areas, the matched personal computingdevices, and the matched one or more files; continuously monitor thenetwork for updates in data associated with the personal computingdevices, the paths to personal network storage areas, and the files;determine that an update in the data associated with the personalcomputing devices, the paths to personal network storage areas, or thefiles has occurred; automatically record in the plurality of custodianprofiles, information related to the update to the linked tables orlinked databases to create a historic record, wherein the informationcomprises metadata associated with the update including time and date ofthe update, the updated data associated with the personal computingdevices, the paths to personal network storage areas, or the files andoriginal data associated with the personal computing devices, the pathsto personal network storage areas, or the files prior to the update;automatically present a notification via an electronic communicationchannel to a user device associated with a manager associated with thepersonal computing devices, the paths to personal network storage areas,or the files, wherein the notification comprise the historic record;receive a response from the user device, via the electroniccommunication channel wherein the response comprises notes and documentsfrom the manager associated with the personal computing devices, thepaths to personal network storage areas, or the files; apply the notesand documents from the response to the historic record; receive anelectronic discovery request from an electronic discovery manager via auser interface, wherein the electronic discovery request comprisescustodian-related information, wherein the electronic discovery requestis associated with an electronic discovery case record; in response toreceiving the electronic discovery request, identify a first custodianprofile from the plurality of custodian profiles in the dynamiccustodian directory, including the custodian-related information; accessthe first custodian profile, collecting a first set of data associatedwith the first custodian profile, and storing the first set of data inthe memory; and link the first custodian profile and the first set ofdata with the electronic discovery case record.
 2. The system of claim1, wherein the electronic discovery management server is furtherconfigured to, determine that more than one custodian profiles includethe custodian-related information; prompt the electronic discoverymanager, via the user interface, to select the first custodian profilefrom the more than one custodian profile; and receive a selection of thefirst custodian profile from the electronic discovery manager.
 3. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the plurality of custodian profiles compriseinformation relating to shared storage locations in the networkassociated with the custodians.
 4. The system of claim 3, wherein theelectronic discovery management server is further configured toinitialize tools on a periodic basis to obtain the information relatingto shared storage locations.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein theelectronic discovery management server is further configured to sendpreservation notices associated with the electronic discovery caserecord to a first custodian related to the first custodian profile usingan electronic mail (email) addresses stored in the dynamic custodiandirectory.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein the dynamic custodiandirectory is further configured to interface with a human resourcesdatabase.
 7. The system of claim 6, wherein the dynamic custodiandirectory comprises the human resources database.
 8. The system of claim1, wherein the dynamic custodian directory is configured to be updatedcontinuously or periodically.
 9. The system of claim 1, wherein theelectronic discovery management server is further configured to: receiveelectronic discovery case documents from the electronic discoverymanager; in response to receiving the electronic discovery casedocuments, store the electronic discovery case documents in the memory;and link the electronic discovery case documents with the electronicdiscovery case.
 10. A method for collecting electronic discovery datafrom custodians and managing a custodian directory, comprising:maintaining a dynamic custodian directory comprising a plurality ofcustodian profiles, wherein the plurality of custodian profiles areassociated with custodian, wherein each of the plurality of custodianprofiles include at least name, employment position, human resourcesidentifier, information relating to a storage location in a computingnetwork associated with a corresponding custodian, and one or morelinked tables or linked databases that are linked based on identifiersassociated with the corresponding custodian; deploying a profilescanning tool, wherein the profile scanning tool is configured to (1)crawl a network and scan personal computing devices, (2) retrieve atleast a computer name and IP address associated with each of thepersonal computing devices, and (3) retrieve a list of computer userprofiles accessing each of the personal computing devices, wherein thelist of computer user profiles comprises first user identification;deploying a mapping tool, wherein the mapping tool is configured to (1)crawl the network and examine file servers, and (2) retrieve from thefile servers, paths to personal storage areas in the network, whereinthe paths include a second user identification; accessing the fileservers, via a file browsing tool, to locate files , retrieve size ofthe files accessed by each of the custodians and retrieve a third useridentification associated with each of the files; generating the dynamiccustodian directory comprising the plurality of custodian profiles,wherein generating each custodian profile includes automatically: (1)linking custodian-specific portions of the tables and database to thecustodian profile based on the human resources identifier associatedwith a custodian, (2) matching one or more paths to the custodianassociated with the custodian profile based on the second useridentification included in included in a path associated with thecustodian, (3) matching one or more of the personal computing devices tothe custodian associated with the custodian profile based on the firstuser identification, (4) matching one or more of the files to thecustodian associated with the custodian profile based on the third useridentification, and (5) storing in the linked tables and liked databasesassociated with custodian profile, the matched one or more paths to thepersonal storage areas, the matched personal computing devices, and thematched one or more files; continuously monitoring the network forupdates in data associated with the personal computing devices, thepaths to personal network storage areas, and the files; determining thatan update in the data associated with the personal computing devices,the paths to personal network storage areas, or the files has occurred;automatically recording in the plurality of custodian profiles,information related to the update to the linked tables or linkeddatabases to create a historic record, wherein the information comprisesmetadata associated with the update including time and date of theupdate, the updated data associated with the personal computing devices,the paths to personal network storage areas, or the files and originaldata associated with the personal computing devices, the paths topersonal network storage areas, or the files prior to the update;automatically presenting a notification via an electronic communicationchannel to a user device associated with a manager associated with thepersonal computing devices, the paths to personal network storage areas,or the files, wherein the notification comprises the historic record;receiving a response from the user device, via the electroniccommunication channel wherein the response comprises notes and documentsfrom the manager associated with the personal computing devices, thepaths to personal network storage areas, or the files; applying thenotes and documents from the response to the historic record; receivingan electronic discovery request from an electronic discovery manager viaa user interface, wherein the electronic discovery request comprisescustodian-related information, wherein the electronic discovery requestis associated with an electronic discovery case record; in response toreceiving the electronic discovery request, identifying a firstcustodian profile from the plurality of custodian profiles in thedynamic custodian directory, including the custodian-relatedinformation; accessing the first custodian profile, collecting a firstset of data associated with the first custodian profile, and storing thefirst set of data in a memory device; and linking the first custodianprofile and the first set of data with the electronic discovery caserecord.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein maintaining the dynamiccustodian directory further comprises maintaining the dynamic custodiandirectory comprising at least two tables within the computing network.12. The method of claim 11, wherein maintaining the dynamic custodiandirectory further comprises maintaining the dynamic custodian directorycomprising the at least two tables wherein the tables reside indifferent locations within the computing network.
 13. The method ofclaim 10, wherein each of the plurality of custodian profiles in thedynamic custodian directory comprises human resources data.
 14. Themethod of claim 10, wherein the dynamic custodian directory isconfigured to interface with a human resources database residing on thecomputing network.
 15. The method of claim 10, wherein the dynamiccustodian directory comprises a human resources table residing on thecomputing network.
 16. The method of claim 10, wherein each of theplurality of custodian profiles in the dynamic custodian directorycomprises information relating to a shared storage location.
 17. Themethod of claim 10, wherein the dynamic custodian directory isconfigured to be updated continuously or periodically.
 18. The method ofclaim 10, further comprising, automatically communicating a preservationnotice notices associated with the electronic discovery case record to afirst custodian related to the first custodian profile.
 19. The methodof claim 10, further comprising: determining that more than onecustodian profiles include the custodian-related information; promptingthe electronic discovery manager, via the user interface, to select thefirst custodian profile from the more than one custodian profiles; andreceiving a selection of the first custodian profile from the electronicdiscovery manager.
 20. The method of claim 10, further comprising:receiving electronic discovery case documents from the electronicdiscovery manager, in response to receiving the electronic discoverycase documents, storing the electronic discovery case documents in thememory device; and linking the electronic discovery case documents withelectronic discovery case.